Dr. Douglas A. Howard is the director of the Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR). Doug previously served as the STAR acting deputy director and as the Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division chief. 

Before joining NOAA, Doug served as the technical director of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Doug also served as the principal research advisor for the National Land Imaging Program and the program coordinator for the nation’s largest mapping program, the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, in the U.S. Geological Survey. He is also a member of the NASA Mars Observer, Mars Global Surveyor, and Mars Odyssey missions’ Thermal Emission Spectrometer science teams and contributed to the Galileo, Pathfinder, and Mars Exploration Rover missions.

As a licensed professional geologist and geochemist, he applies remote sensing, geochemical modeling, and geochronology techniques to Earth and planetary science questions and has conducted geological field work on all seven continents. Over the past two decades Doug has served in a number of public service positions including: Department of Defense representative to the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee Science Ministerial supporting the Arctic Research and Policy Act and the Office of Science and Technology Policy , National Science and Technology Council Committee on Environment to assist in drafting the Arctic Research Plan for 2022-2026; leading EdMap, the largest Department of Interior STEM education program; serving as the Department of Interior representative and advocate to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science and Technology Council’s Federal STEM Education Task Force; selected member of the U.S. Geological Survey Office of the Native American Tribal Liaison Team; and advisor for the National Environmental Policy Act, Council on Environmental Quality in The Executive Office of the President. Doug also serves as an adjunct professor of geosciences in the Program for Science, Technology, and International Affairs, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Doug received a bachelor’s degree in geology from Arizona State University, a master’s degree in Earth systems science from George Mason University, and a doctorate in Earth systems and geoinformation sciences from George Mason University.